WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2026
His statement was disappeared: What does an act of "sifting" look like? To answer your question, let's visit the first segment of yesterday's The Five.
Co-host Dana Perino introduced the day's first topic—and frankly, the co-host was suitably stunned. The program started like this:
PERINO: (3/24/26): Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino, here with Kennedy, Jessica Tarlov, Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is The Five!
And a stunning divide here at home over who to believe—Trump or Iran. The president says he's having productive negotiations with the terror regime on a deal to end the war, claiming Iran agreed to no nukes and even revealing that the Iranians sent a gift related to oil and gas.
Who to believe—Trump or Iran? There was a stunning divide!
At this point, producers played tape of the president's public statements about the negotiations and about that "very big present," which he further described as "a very big prize."
That said, who should you believe? Perino's intro continued:
PERINO (continuing directly): Iranian officials are denying that negotiations are even happening, and some Democrats, including Barack Obama's former CIA director, appear to be more inclined to believe Iran over the president.
To her credit, she didn't say Barack Hussein Obama!
"I tend to believe Iran more than I do Donald Trump," former director John Brennan was now shown saying, in a tightly edited video clip in which he seemed to be chuckling. There followed other tightly edited video clips in which Senators Van Hollen, Schiff and Schumer were not shown saying that they trust the Iranians more.
What had these solons actually said? As is often the case when Fox presents tightly edited video clips, there was no obvious way to know. But what had been shown was "close enough for Fox News Channel work"—was close enough to justify the shocking summary messaged on this chyron:
DEMS BELIEVE IRAN'S TERROR REGIME OVER TRUMP
With that, the program's viewers had been messaged. There was only one problem:
As we noted yesterday, one major figure from Fox's own Murdoch empire had made a tougher statement than anything Perino had shown on the screen. That major player was Gerard Baker, former editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal. He had punched hard, below the belt, in an X post which was featured in this report by Mediaite:
‘We Have Become Baghdad Bob’: Wall Street Journal Editor Delivers Stunning Condemnation of Trump
Fox News contributor and former Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerard Baker made a stunning comparison between President Donald Trump and an infamous propagandist for the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein on Monday.
Baker, a familiar face on both Fox News and Fox Business as well as the editor-at-large of the Journal, made the comparison after Trump and the Iranian government made contrasting statements about negotiations that may or may not be taking place between the two parties.
[...]
Baker expressed more faith in the Iranians’ story than Trump’s.
“The unsettling reality is that with this president, Americans in wartime are in the unprecedented position of having to suspect that the enemy’s version of events is more likely to be true than our own,” he wrote shortly after the Iranians issued their denial. “We have become Baghdad Bob.”
Baker is still an editor-at-large over at the Journal. To see his latest weekly column for the Journal, you can just click here.
Also, he's a Fox News contributor! Did we forget to mention that?
That said, Oof! What Baker posted was much more cutting than anything Brennan or the three Democratic senators were shown to have said. In his post, he said that Trump has managed to turn the United States into the new Baghdad Bob!
At the nation's top-rated "cable news" show, everyone knew how to handle this awkward state of affairs. Baker's assault was disappeared, as Perino smiled reassuringly.
To see Baker's post, you can just click this. But, dear friends, please play by the rules:
In service to tribalized spotless minds, Please don't tell your Red American associates, neighbors and friends!
Obviously -- quite obviously -- Iran is more believable. The immense fuckup of this ill-conceived, poorly-prepared war is hard to underestimate. Trump has quickly surpassed Bush II as the most destructive president in US history.
ReplyDeleteThere's a NY Times article how Trump was suckered into this war by the Saudis, or MBS to be precise, who considered Iran to be a major nuisance. The problem now, of course, is that if the US pull back, Iran will truly assert its dominance over the region. If the war continues, it'll bankrupt the US, just like the cold war bankrupted the Soviet Empire. The US is crumbling before our eyes. Trump is the great catalyst for that.
Trump kills everything he touches. I am still sick over what he did to the Kennedy Center
DeleteIt’s striking how onexside sees an immense fuckup while the other side sees an immense success. Who’s right?
DeleteSuppose Iran had destroyed the entire US Navy, sir force, and 90 per cent of our missiles, while only incurring a few dozen casualties. Would you call that an immense fuckup for IRAN? I don’t think so
5:13: this isn’t a board game , dickface, you fucking fascist imbecile
DeleteSeriously, can Ilya or anyone explain how in the world this can, at this point be considered an "immense fuckup" for the US? How much more should we have accomplished in just 3 weeks?
DeleteI think of something like the battle of Midway as being an immense fuckup for Japan.
Accomplish? Are you out of your mind, David? Accomplish would only apply if there was something to accomplish. Pointless, idiotic war at the behest of foreign powers, with whom Trump has business, is antithetical to accomplishing anything. So far, the only accomplishment is a plethora of war crimes, wanton destruction, and the death of dozens of school children.
DeleteYour irrational fear notwithstanding, there was no compelling reason for this idiotic adventure.
I just paid over $4/gal to fill my car, but orange dumbfuck says he was given a prize yesterday
Delete"Seriously, can Ilya or anyone explain how in the world this can, at this point be considered an "immense fuckup" for the US?"
DeleteSure. Iran has a chokehold on the strait and will squeeze and squeeze and squeeze. It can export and sell its own oil, but it will allow no one else through the strait without payment of a toll. Because of the resulting diminished supply, all oil producers (including Iran) will get a supply shock premium price for their oil. Anyone who buys oil will suffer. (The gas station nearest my house now charges $6.39 for a gallon.)
Suppose Iran had destroyed the entire US Navy, sir force, and 90 per cent of our missiles
DeleteThis presumes that any of those things were necessary. You forgot to mention in the list of accomplishments the scores of school children we killed.
DG: You're correct that this was something that the dumb fucks in the White House failed to consider.
DeleteHowever, the entire predicate is faulty. There was no compelling reason to attack Iran. Trump was looking for the bragging rights. That's about the sum of it.
People like David, who live in a perpetual fear of immigrants, Islamists, Iran, and maybe other things that start with an 'i', are delusional enough to think Iran posed some sort of an existential danger. Just like they are afraid to go outside lest they encounter an undocumented immigrants. Just as rational.
The Right doesn't call the Left "snowflakes" for nothing. They call the Left "snowflakes", because every Right-wing accusation is a confession.
DeleteEntirely destroying Iran's military is a necessary step in opening the Strait of Hormuz. -
DeleteBTW many countries have a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Any country that can lay mines there can close the Strait. It does not require a large battleship to lay some mines.
So what do you figure, dickface? 500000 boots on the ground?
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteHow many cupcakes do you think the Pentagon is going to need to sell to pay for this war?
The other day I complained about the US paying a disproportion share for various international issues. This war is another such. Europe is within range of Iranian missiles right now. Reining in Iran helps Europe as much as or more than it helps the US. Yet, Europe has paid little or nothing.
DeleteI hear the negotiations are going great, fuckface. Scram dickhead troll
DeleteDavid, remember when Bush Jr. sold the war to the UN and NATO and NATO joined us in the asinine attack on Iraq after we were attacked by KSA? Now these idiots, having zero ability to sell the concept of a war plan to our allies, just went in like the idiot weirdos they are and fucked the dog. Good to know you now realize Trump lost this war and is begging for help after starting this nightmare clusterfuck.
DeleteIdiot David at 7:47: you do realize Iran is one of the world's top producers of missiles and drones you dumbass.
Delete"Since 1993, Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines, unmanned aerial vehicles, and fighter planes."
God you are such a fucking idiot.
You got it 10:00. Iran is a military juggernaut. That’s what makes our rapid military victory so impressive.
DeleteWith all the ordinance Iran fires on the daily who thinks 90% destroyed in the first few days is not complete and utter bullshit?
DeleteOK David you convinced me, we won. Now what jagoff?
Delete10:34 they told trump admin to fuck off with their ceasefire proposal and told Trump to meet their conditions for peace. So yea, we won, the war is over! Gas is free!!!
DeleteAnother General that Trump would not listen to weighs in.
Delete"We all love air power. In World War II, we went into the war with the Douhet theory, that air power, the bomber, will always get through, and therefore air power will be dominant.
It was certainly very, very contributory, but it was never dominant. [snip]
I think, in this case, we again fell for the seduction that if we bomb key targets, we will produce the outcome we want — but the outcome’s in the minds of the people. And unless you’re going to kill all the people, you may not affect that outcome.
We may be at a point — you used the word 'quagmire' in your article — but we may be at a point where we’ve run into a country that has an extraordinary capacity to be bombed."
Yup, the Trump doctrine of Idiocracy has fucked us good.
@10:34 - the number of missiles being fired by Iran is down to only 10% of what it was at the beginning of the war.
DeleteSimply because a country is within the range of Iranian missiles does not make it vulnerable to them, dumbass. The Europeans have nothing to fear from Iran compared with Iran’s neighbors, who have been shelled by them during this conflict, and who , despite that, have been content watching from the sidelines. Because they are smart. If the Europeans have anything to thank the US for in this war, it is the escalating cost of energy and all that that impacts.
Delete"Reining in Iran helps Europe as much as or more than it helps the US"
DeleteIran is currently closing off the Strait of Hormuz and showering the Middle East with missiles. They don't seem to understand they're being 'reined in.' Maybe someone should tell them.
David get it straight. This is not a war.
DeleteDavid 12am - nope. We still be fucked idiot.
Delete"As of last week, U.S. officials believe that as many as a dozen Iranian mines are already in the waterway, and some 5,000 more are in reserve. In both cases, low-cost, mobile, and easily concealed weapons pose an outsize threat to far more advanced—and expensive—U.S. weaponry."
"Reining in Iran helps Europe as much as or more than it helps the US."
DeleteYet our European allies were somehow caught unwarned and unconsulted before the bombing started. Instead, the Trump White House consulted with Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The European countries you think should pay for this didn't ask for this or want it.
But how is Jared the Worm going to get the Saudis to hand him another $5 billion?
DeleteI just watched some YouTube clips of 4 nominees for federal judgeships refuse to answer democratic senators asking who won the 2020 election and was the Capitol attacked on Jan 6, 2021. These fucking worms are going to be judges for a very long time to come. Quite a remarkable sight to witness.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a cult, because they'd drop Trump in a heartbeat if he ever promised black people reparations for slavery.
DeleteNope, still a cult.
DeleteMy Lord, you need to see some of the crazy shit these nominees have done in the past. I mean we are talking full-on right-wing dittoheads, completely dedicated to Fox NOOZ bullshit. These are fucking dumb motherfuckers, sitting in front of the Senate committee lying their fucking asses off to get through the confirmation and then go to work destroying our country.
DeleteIf you watch that confimation hearing, you will not have any doubt where partisan hacks like Aileen Cannon come from and how the fuck did they ever get on a Federal Court
DeleteThe Federalist Society is one evil group of powerful mofos.
DeleteWatch Ryan Grim discuss the crimes against humanity king Orange is committing in Cuba
ReplyDeleteBarely a blip on US news and another huge overseas story on how fucking evil and malicious our country is. Trump has ruined us forever.
DeleteThere is no good excuse for what we are doing to that country. Democrats and the media are too scared of their own shadow to say anything. Trump is a fucking monster.
DeleteAnd then my friend, Fanny Ripone, ripped one!
ReplyDeleteI am on the pot ripping a few good ones. Wasting them really. Should have saved them for the bus.
DeleteLet's check in on how the great negotiator is doing with the government shutdown.
ReplyDeleteTSA official stresses record-high airport wait times as shutdown drags on
The art of the fucking deal, eh?
The shutdown may force TSA to consider closing some airports until funding resumes, said Ha Nguyen McNeill, the agency’s acting administrator. She said multiple airports are experiencing callout rates higher than 40%, and air travelers are experiencing the TSA’s highest wait times ever.
Republicans are incapable of governing.